True 'Confession'-- Best-selling author and attorney wins coveted prize for legal fiction

By Kurt Anthony King Legal News It's been a busy two months alone for John Grisham, The New York Times best-selling novelist who gave the legal thriller genre a shot in the arm upon the publication of ''The Firm'' -- arguably his definitive novel -- 20 years ago. For his best-selling legal thriller ''The Confession,'' Grisham became the inaugural recipient of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction last month in Alabama. Named after the author of the world-renowned novel, ''To Kill a Mockingbird,'' this new literary award is co-sponsored by The University of Alabama School of Law (Lee's alma mater) and the ABA Journal, the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. United States Attorney General Eric Holder helped initiate this award at a ceremony in 2010 when marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of ''Mockingbird,'' which was adapted into the 1952 feature film of the same name, starring the late Gregory Peck as crusading lawyer Atticus Finch -- the role that earned him an Oscar and inspired many to become attorneys -- who defended a black man accused of raping a white woman. ''The Confession'' was declared this year's winner by a distinguished selection committee that included New York Times best-selling novelists David Baldacci and Linda Fairstein, Southern Poverty Law Center co-founder Morris Dees, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, and Robert J. Grey, Jr., executive director of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, an organization created in 2009 to advance diversity in the legal profession. In their view, ''The Confession'' -- which explores an attorney's tireless efforts to save his client from being executed for a crime he did not commit -- embodies the spirit of this literary prize, which will be given annually to a published work of fiction that best exemplifies the positive role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change. ''John Grisham's 'The Confession' contains all the elements of a terrific story: compelling characters, crackerjack plotting and the universal issue of justice in a case of the highest stakes. Harper Lee and Atticus Finch would be proud,'' said Baldacci, of Virginia, author of ''Absolute Power,'' which became a blockbuster movie starring Clint Eastwood. Grisham was not available for comment. Grisham's latest novel, ''The Litigators,'' debuted October 25. In it, the law firm of Finley & Figg -- which calls itself a ''boutique law firm'' but is full of ambulance chasers -- takes on a new partner, lawyer David Zinc. The firm lands its next case: a class action lawsuit against Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion. The producer of Krayoxx, the No. 1 drug for reducing cholesterol for the dangerously obese, has come under scrutiny after several people who took it suffered from heart attacks. A 1981 alumnus of the University of Mississippi School of Law (more popularly called Ole Miss), Grisham is one of three authors who sold 2 million copies with the first printing of a novel (the other two being J.K. Rowling, author of the ''Harry Potter'' series, and Tom Clancy, author of the Jack Ryan series). Even though his first novel was 1989's ''A Time to Kill,'' Grisham's big break came with the publication of 1991's ''The Firm,'' about a young lawyer who takes a job at a prestigious law firm where nobody leaves. It was the best-selling novel of 1991 and on The New York Times best-seller list for 47 weeks -- forever changing the legal fiction genre. It was adapted into a 1993 blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise. ''I love John Grisham's writing. I distinctly remember reading 'The Firm.' I was in high school, and my parents -- and everyone in Franklin, Mich. -- kept talking about it. I grabbed my mother's copy, read the first page, and couldn't put it down. I've been hooked on Grisham ever since. He has an unparalleled ability to hook the reader on the first page, and not let go until the final sentence,'' said Allison Leotta, a federal sex crimes prosecutors whose first novel ''Law of Attraction'' debuted this year. She continued, ''Used to be, I just loved Grisham's stories. But now that I've written a legal thriller myself, I have a whole new appreciation for what he does. He raises a question on each page, and you feel like you must keep reading to get it answered. But as soon as he's answered one question, he raises another. You have to keep reading. Meanwhile, each page flies by. It actually takes a lot of work to make a story so easy to read.'' Grisham has penned 25 novels (20 of which are legal thrillers), one book of short stories, and one non-fiction book. Nine of his novels have been adapted into blockbuster movies - including 1993's ''The Pelican Brief'' with Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, 1994's ''The Client'' with Susan Sarandon (this role earned her an Oscar nomination) and Tommy Lee Jones, 1996's ''A Time to Kill'' with Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock, 1997's ''The Rainmaker'' with Matt Damon, 2003's ''The Runaway Jury'' with John Cusack and Rachel Weisz. ''The Last Juror'' is being adapted into a feature film and slated for a 2013 release. ''A Painted House'' was adapted into a 2003 tele-film that was given the Hallmark Hall of Fame treatment and starred Scott Glenn and Logan Lerman. In addition to being a movie, ''The Client'' was also a TV series that lasted one season on NBC from 1995-96, starring JoBeth Williams. ''The Firm'' is being made into a TV series, slated to be aired later on this season, serving as a sequel to the book and the film. Josh Lucas will take over the role of Mitch McDeere, which originated with the aforementioned Cruise. ''John Grisham, along with Scott Turow, revived the courtroom thriller, which had lain dormant since the death of Erle Stanley Gardner (the creator of Perry Mason, the hero of 80 novels, radio dramas, television series, and 30 tele-films from 1985 to 1993). These books are solid good-versus-evil stories, with strong characters and a terrific sense of pace. But I admire Grisham particularly for having the courage to step out and write other kinds of books, like 'A Painted House,' 'Skipping Christmas,' and the Theodore Boone young adult series. Such side-trips expand a writer's horizons and keep all his work fresh,'' praised Loren D. Estleman, of Whitmore Lake, author of the Amos Walker series of mystery novels. Added Leotta: ''John Grisham paved the way for writers like me who are authors of legal thrillers. Most people are interested in how America's legal system works, but few writers have been able to make it as accessible, exciting and suspenseful as Grisham. The greatest compliment I've gotten as a writer is when a few reviewers have called me a 'female John Grisham.''' Published: Thu, Nov 24, 2011

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